Artweeks Online Exhibition

Andy Page

Associate Member of Magdalen Road Studios working in oil and

watercolours, with inter-disciplinary background in bookbinding and

video, working as a camera operator, set building, rigging and editing.

Working through ideas,

Thinking through paintings,

Looking through lenses.

Between all mod cons, grey and sandy streets, in Oxford’s idyllic

settings many experience the Querelle des Anciens et Modernes on a

personal level. I want to find a continuity between the past and the

present in my art. Since moving to Oxford in 2010 I’ve participated in

photography and painting exhibitions at Jericho Art, the OAS open, and

Magdalen Road Studios during Artweeks. I’m always inspired by the

discipline and sacrifice I see in those around me as much as the epic

journeys one finds in the realms of higher gossip and the retrospectives

of great artists.

Dialogue

My first experience of modern art was in Paris at the state exhibition

of Picasso’s private collection at the Pompidou Centre shortly after his

death. If that wasn’t a wake up call then it should be now, how does one

compile a comprehensive dialogue for the purposes of explaining and

developing one’s own art without dying and hoping someone else will do

it for you. How and what therefore should art reflect in terms of

theory, imagination, and sense perception?

Reason, the Senses, and Creativity

I don’t want my art to be merely a self help therapy session, yes it’s

good to find satisfaction in what one does but as far as the

subconscious goes who says it holds the key to well being? In terms of

wholeness we have to consider other aspects of our consciousness than

solely the emotions, intuitions, the surreal and/or the spirit.

Over the years my collection of sketchbooks record three main areas, the

visual world, the inner cartoon like world of the imagination and

thirdly an unusual notation of the theoretical world of concepts and

aesthetics which together foster a desire to build interfaces between

each part. I hope by the process of painting, note taking and digital

records to embody those links which are worth keeping and thereby

explore theory, imagination, and a record of sense perception.

The good times and the bad times will slowly infiltrate my art,

hopefully without negating an active role in the here and now, the

shifting places and impressions of news will merge through reflections

and personal notations. My hope is that the images and materials even in

the intuitive world of art will thus embed themselves in each other’s

realms.

However, along side the traditional mediums of paint and pencil, or what

ever skill we practice, creative or otherwise many of us have a backlog

of photographic material. Art schools are quick to tell their students

the importance of keeping photographic records and notes, whether

negatives or digital files, we slowly build up this catalogue of

photographic Readymades. Sure enough these scientific instruments that

excel at capturing precise impressions of the world around us slowly

turn into toys for sabotaging rational consciousness. Whilst I would

have loved to exhibit a painting in a physical exhibition, here we are

surveying Artweeks in a virtual space and exploring themes in a group

show. I thought a photograph would work well in this format, after all

are we taking photos of our work or is the photograph itself the art?

Retain & Contain

As a visual artist I enjoy questions within the art itself, can oil

paintings retain the simplicity captured in sketchbooks and build on the

initial idea without becoming over complicated? Yes the more materials

and equipment the better but I’m inspired by those who can profoundly

challenge our creative views using just brush and ink, a graphite stick

or monochrome. That being said my 10 x 8 studio pushes management skills

to the limit, economy of space dictates how much I can have on the go at

any one time. This freedom to explore ideas in a dedicated space finds

its complementary opposite through the lens of a camera, no sticky

brushes and paint smeared cuffs. The world is a messy place but the

camera is or has to be a dry, relatively clean object which is easily

portable and useful on the go. Is there something that links one

discipline with other?

I very much center my art around the need to discover and preserve ideas

that are contained in the medium rather than illusion, there’s no need

for the visual arts to be subservient to other art forms even if

complementary links exist such as between sculpture and architecture,

music, film and dance, costumes and characters etc. Primarily in

painting there has to be complementary links between the subject, the

paint, and the surface, anything that shares that space lives by common

rules even if historically the nature of art shares influences between

other disciplines. It is this notion that creative practices share

something called art that I find interesting, art is not confined to one

form but it can transform different actions and separate them from the

normal business of earning a living in other fields.

Ancient and Modern

In truth I’d quite like to get as far away from any direct influences as

possible but it’s not, we build on the cultural development of others

and hope the novelty doesn’t wear thin. The world rests halfway between

two extremes of ancient and modern crafts, likewise I’ll happily potter

about using watercolour and oil paints keeping both an electronic record

and cross referencing ideas in sketchbooks and across different series.

However, at the end of the day an artwork succeeds or fails by its

ability to be complete in and of itself, and this hints at a challenge:

how do we remain or indeed become whole, complete, content within

ourselves? I’d like to believe there can be peace in our artistic

struggles before, during and after we participate in our creative pursuits.

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